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U.S. Copyright Law
The authority to enact copyright law in the U.S. comes from Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution: "The Congress shall have Power... To Promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries." Copyright law in the U.S. is intended to protect art, rather than industry. Utilitarian commercial and industrial creations are protected by patents, though the aesthetic or design elements in those works can be protected under copyright. Emerging scholarly viewpoints have derided U.S. copyright law as a hindrance to freedom of expression. The news media isn't the only industry affected by these laws, but it may be the most closely intertwined. Creative media and the arts have certainly been affected by copyright law as well, and some musicians have gone as far to declare that copyright kills art. Copyright law in the U.S. has undergone many changes since its inception, but its core purpose has remained largely unchanged. Various interest groups have done battle on Capitol Hill and elsewhere to further restrict or loosen the laws as they are currently written. This wiki's audience can improve its usefulness by pointing out relevant news stories or scholarly articles, which I can later assess and synthesize into the wiki in a fuller sense. Origins Due to the agrarian nature of the American colonies, copyright law was barely addressed by colonial or early state legislation. The first U.S. copyright law was passed in 1783 by the General Court of Connecticut. Others followed in the months after, including the appointment of a copyright committee by Continental Congress. Over the next few years, an array of state and federal legislation passed through various U.S. lawmaking bodies, including the first federal copyright law in 1790 that covered books, maps and charts. By 1822, the first catalog of copyrighted works was published, entitled ''A List of Books, etc. Deposited in the Patent Office of the United States, for Securing Copy rights -- From Jan. 1796 to Jan. 1822. ''A revision of copyright law in 1831 expanded the eligible subjects of copyright to include musical works and raised the copyright term from 14 years to 28 years. In 1870, another revision extended copyright protection to paintings, drawings, sculpture and models. It also reserved the right to the author to dramatize or translate their work. A third major revision to U.S. copyright law occurred in 1909, when President Theodore Roosevelt enacted 35 Stat. 1075, Public Law 349. The revised law represents -- for the most part -- the same law in force today. Some of the major changes include an extension of protection to 56 years, and the ability to copyright a work simply by publishing it with notice of copyright. Current State The Copyright Act of 1976 abolished the original copyright system that incorporated both federal and state laws, and replaced it with a single federal system. It lengthened protection terms to 75 years or life of the author plus 50 years, and extended protection to unpublished works. In 1998, two important acts changed U.S. copyright law again. The Copyright Term Extension Act extended terms to 120 years or life of the author, plus 70 years. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of the same year criminalized some cases of copyright infringement. Both of these acts have drawn criticism from artists, open-source enthusiasts and legalists. In Britain and many other European countries, copyright lasts only 50 years after the author's death. According to some, America's significantly longer protection terms do little to protect and author or his estate, and instead hinder innovation and creativity. In 2014, however, a U.S. appeals court ruled that Sherlock Holmes had fallen under public domain, despite author Conan Doyle's death having occurred in 1930. Under current copyright law, all federal works are in the public domain and are therefore freely accessible to any U.S. citizen.